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Gillingham manager Steve Evans says they’re doing all they can within their financial constraints to prevent Covid-19 from hitting their camp.
Six games were off in League 1 on Boxing Day because of Covid issues and more are set to follow with Sunderland, Doncaster, Peterborough and Portsmouth among those to have had matches postponed because of the virus.
A positive case at Peterborough led to them pulling out of the festive fixture with the Gills. Despite the virus hitting Kent hard, the football club’s senior team has so far escaped any major issues.
Gillingham haven’t had a group-wide test for the virus since October, when the EFL made all clubs go through the procedure while picking up the tab. The next round of mass testing is expected to take place on January 6 and until then clubs like Gillingham are continuing to only test individuals when required.
Evans said: “On the insistence of myself we probably have stricter rules than the EFL have, anyone who has a smattering of anything that looks remotely like the virus, we isolate them. It can be a detriment to training some days, and we have been short, but we will continue to take that approach.
“We test anyone in the building that has any concerns but we can’t do it on mass.
“We are often described as elite but we are not elite, the group was last tested in October. We do test the staff every two or three weeks because we are all around the players, if the players develop any symptoms then they are tested immediately.
“We are not elite, we are not treated that way, we are different from the Premier League, but we have to get on with it. We have a full testing programme the first week of January for everyone in the group, which is an EFL directive, we will take part in that but we certainly haven’t been treated as we should have been over the last two or three months.
“I understand why supporters will say, ‘why don’t we test players weekly?’ There is a private lab doing our testing but that is at almost £200 per player or member of staff.
“All we can do is follow the procedures laid down by the EFL, which are very rigorous and we will keep our fingers crossed.”
The fixture schedule was already hectic and with games being postponed regularly it is only going to get worse. The Gills still have to re-arrange their match with Peterborough at Priestfield.
The next round of mass testing is sure to produce positive results and impact the schedule again.
Evans said: “There is no hidden secret that when you do mass testing you get more positive readings, it is a simple calculation. We will have to deal with it as it comes.”
There are some suggesting a break in football while cases are so high but Evans is led to believe the risk while playing is only minimal.
He said: “When it comes to actually playing football the chances of catching the Covid virus in the fresh air, in a professional environment, is less than 0.3% so it is very minor, you would probably catch it a lot more by walking around a supermarket or to get fuel.
“The football side of it is fine, we just need to make sure that inbetween times we are all doing what we should be doing.
“This virus is not going to go away on its own, it has ripped families apart, we’ve seen loved one go far too early and we need to do everything we can to help ourselves, first and foremost, and help everyone around it.
“We have to make sure our own men and women in our club are looking after themselves and protecting themselves. I am like a moaning machine, I am moaning at them every day!”
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